{"id":48161,"date":"2015-10-16T09:46:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T13:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=48161"},"modified":"2015-10-16T09:46:30","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T13:46:30","slug":"the-muslim-who-became-a-catholic-bishop-and-later-baptized-his-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2015\/10\/the-muslim-who-became-a-catholic-bishop-and-later-baptized-his-father\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Muslim who became a Catholic bishop\u2014and later baptized his father"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Who knew?<\/p>\n

A surprising interview\u00a0from Diane Montagna in Aleteia<\/strong>,<\/a> about\u00a0Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of the Blantyre archdiocese in Malawi. \u00a0He is one of the Synod fathers and he has a remarkable story to tell: <\/span><\/p>\n

You were raised Muslim?<\/em><\/p>\n

At the age of 7, I left home and went to the parish because I wanted to go to school. Nobody from our village would help me. So I stayed at the parish. At the age of 12, I asked for baptism myself, and I was baptized.<\/p>\n

\"url\"<\/a>Then I asked the priest: \u201cHow can I become like you?\u201d And he sent me to the seminary.<\/p>\n

When I eventually returned home, my relatives and my father heard about it, and they were against me. They would not welcome me at home, so I always stayed at the parish. They would not not welcome me.<\/p>\n

But thanks be to God, I was ordained. To thank God, I wanted to go and celebrate Mass at home. So I asked the Church elder there and my uncle \u2014 who was already Catholic at that time \u2014 to organize Mass outside.<\/p>\n

People were laughing and wondering how many people would come, but it was full of people. My relatives and my father came. And he said to me: \u201cYou know, I was refusing to allow you to join this Church, but I believe now we will probably reach heaven through you.\u201d<\/p>\n

My father, who was a teacher of Islam \u2014 an Imam \u2014 said this.<\/p>\n

Did your father also convert to Catholicism?<\/em><\/p>\n

When I became a bishop, I returned home and invited people to come together. And my father, an Imam, knelt and said, \u201cI need baptism.\u201d And I said, \u201cOh father, all these years you have been saying I\u2019m going to hell. Are you going to hell with me?\u201d (laugh).<\/p>\n

Our instruction in the Christian faith lasts 3 years, so I said him: If you want to become Catholic, you have to undergo Christian instruction for 3 years. He accepted, and in 2006, I baptized him.<\/p>\n

Now, he is very old and very sick. When I go back to Malawi, I have to go to his home so that he can declare before everyone what he has become. I will travel there on the 29th to bring peace to my family. We follow the side of the mother. He must declare that he has wanted to join us as a Christian, so that when he dies there will not be any problem to bury him. It will be my responsibility \u2014 our responsibility as Christians \u2013 to bury him with a Christian burial.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read it all.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n


\u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who knew? A surprising interview\u00a0from Diane Montagna in Aleteia, about\u00a0Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of the Blantyre archdiocese in Malawi. \u00a0He is one of the Synod fathers and he has a remarkable story to tell: You were raised Muslim? At the age of 7, I left home and went to the parish because I wanted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,602],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-converts","category-muslims"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Muslim who became a Catholic bishop\u2014and later baptized his father<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who knew? 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